Rangers unsure if ‘crazy’ schedule with bye week is worth it

Alain Vigneault mentioned several times last week, and again Tuesday morning ahead of the Rangers' game against the Hurricanes, that his team had a stretch of five games in seven-and-a-half days, which finished Friday with a day game in Philadelphia.

NHL teams are all dealing with hectic, condensed schedules this season, a byproduct of the players receiving a five-day bye week in exchange for agreeing to the new three-on-three All-Star Game format, which was instituted last season. Each team has a different bye week from the start of January through February, except Anaheim's which dips into March; the Rangers have theirs from Jan. 8-12.

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So the Rangers have been playing a lot of hockey, and thus have had limited practice time because of an emphasis on rest. They have a number of stretches where they play three games in four nights and already had four back-to-backs with 12 more later this season, five of which are in March. All of those back-to-backs involve travel.

"Schedule's crazy, isn't it? I've never seen anything like this," said Rick Nash, who's in his 14th NHL season. "It does feel a bit weird. Rest is obviously a weapon. AV does a great job with us and rest, but there's kind of a happy medium that you have things to work on. The schedule's been crazy."

Players undoubtedly will enjoy having the bye week, but they won't know until season's end if the heavy schedule is worth it. In a perfect world the players would have the bye week with a less condensed schedule. Potential solutions for players could involve drawing the season out, which isn't ideal, or perhaps shortening training camp or playing fewer exhibition games.

For now, though, coaches have to figure out how to best allot the team's down time. Some practices are shorter; sometimes off-days are more frequent.

Rick Nash said the Rangers' hectic schedule has given the team less time to rest. (CSM/REX/Shutterstock/CSM/REX/Shutterstock)

Currently the Rangers need time to improve a power play missing Mika Zibanejad, which was 1-for-15 in the previous six games entering Tuesday. They also must figure out how to adapt when teams like the Senators and Hurricanes use traps in the neutral zone to negate the Rangers' speed, something Nash said the team was "still searching for."

"I think a lot of times you've got to play the game that's in front of you, and sometimes the game in front of you is not giving you a lot of room, and you've got to stay with the process and you've got to stay high-percentage," Vigneault said. "Sooner or later somebody will lack patience, will try to force something, and you can capitalize on it."

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J.T. Miller, who took a Mats Zuccarello shot off his knee Sunday night and needed stitches, was "90-10" likely to play Tuesday night, Vigneault said, up from 50-50 Monday when Miller missed practice. He skated Tuesday morning. Michael Grabner was doubtful to play because of an illness.